Finally, Fresno Joins the Big Leagues

The $103 million Save Mart Center Opens on the Cal State Fresno Campus

By Greg Aragon

The Save Mart Center, a major sports and entertainment venue, represents the largest privately financed project in the history of the 23-campus California State University system and the largest venue of its type in central California.

Take a look at the big, barn-like edifice on the campus of California State University, Fresno-it might make you think that it's just another agricultural structure in California's bread basket.

Look a little closer, or put your ear to the wall and you may be surprised at what you see and hear.

Inside the new $103 million Save Mart Center, you might hear Elton John, Aerosmith, KISS or Andrea Bocelli (the arena's first act on last Nov. 8), or you could hear the sound of thousands of screaming basketball fans rooting for their Fresno State Bulldogs.

The sports and entertainment venue represents the largest privately financed project in the history of the 23-campus California State University system and the largest venue of its type in central California.

"This has always been a dream of our community, to have an on-campus arena," said Deborah Adishian-Astone, Fresno State project coordinator. "We've been in a sold-out capacity for our men's basketball games for several years now. The missing facility for us on campus was a multipurpose arena for our men's and women's basketball teams."

Adishian-Astone said more than 1 million spectators a year will visit the facility, which, in addition to being the home court of Bulldogs basketball, will host the Fresno Falcon minor league hockey team, rodeos, concerts, family shows and cultural events.

Designed by Denver-based architect Sink Combs Dethlefs, the 450,000-sq.-ft. project began in October 2001 and officially opened Nov. 7. It seats between 15,000 and 18,000 spectators and is outfitted with 32 private luxury suites, 1,000 club seats and a club-level concourse.

The 92-ft.-tall Larry A. Shehadey Clock Tower at one end of the Save Mart Center is a striking icon. The building's façade includes "punch" windows, and its stucco is colored in eggshell and redwood hues. Its body is fortified with about 4.25 million lbs. of structural steel.

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Don Dethlefs, president of Sink Combs Dethlefs and senior project architect for the arena, called its rustic design "an updated California Mission style" inspired by other Fresno State structures with similar features such as red-tile roofs and an abundant use of synthetic stucco.

Because the arena was built for university instead of private use, Dethlefs said he had to please a number of constituents.

"You've got the athletic department, the people that are financing the building, students and campus planning committees," said Dethlefs, who attended the opening-night concert by Bocelli. "We went through all of them and tried to make sure the building met the needs of every group. And I think it does."

Dethlefs said that a key to the center's success and accessibility is the subterranean bowl.

The $103 million Save Mart Center seats between 15,000 and 18,000 spectators and is outfitted with 32 private luxury suites, 1,000 club seats and a club-level concourse. (photo courtesy of Sink Combs Dethlefs)

"We buried the building 32 ft., which is very unusual for an arena, and luckily there was no water table there," he added. "We did this so we could have the concourse right at the entry-ground level. So people just walk right in from the parking lot. [The ground-level concourse] eliminates a lot of stairs and lot of circulation, and it really tries to simplify."

The Irvine office of the Bethesda, Md.-based Clark Construction Group Inc. served as general contractor. Other core project members included Los Angeles-based John A. Martin Associates (structural engineer) and ME Engineers of Wheat Ridge, Colo. (mechanical and electrical engineer).

Financing for the project was provided through revenue from corporate sponsorships, private gifts, leasing of luxury suites (they average about $50,000 a year), sale of club seats and personal seat licenses, and revenue from advertising and signage agreements.

The title sponsors, Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets and PepsiCo Inc., are paying about $40 million over a 20-year period.

Fresno State President John D. Welty said construction of the Save Mart Center makes "a remarkable visual statement" about the strength and enthusiasm of Fresno and the surrounding region.

"When the people of Fresno State and of central California put their heart into it, they can achieve great things," he added.